President Al-Zubaidi Chairs Meeting of Higher Committee for Sovereign and Local Revenues

President Aidarous Qassem Al-Zubaidi, President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and Vice-Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (LPC), chaired on Monday a meeting of the Higher Committee for Sovereign and Local Revenues at Ma’ashiq Palace in the Capital, Aden.

At the beginning of its meeting, the committee listened to a briefing by Prime Minister Dr. Maeen Abdulmalik on the level of execution of the procedures, reforms, and obligations related to the signed agreement with the brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to support the general budget, in addition to the remaining procedures and the challenges that may face the progress of the implementation process.

In this respect, the committee emphasized expediting the completion of the specified conditions in the agreement with the brothers in the KSA, instructing the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance to address the concerned authorities to quickly implement their commitments as per the specified time period and to submit a detailed report on the defaulters to the PLC to take appropriate action against them.

After that, the meeting listened to a brief explanation from the Minister of Finance, Mr. Salem ben Brik, about the general financial situation of the country, the available revenues, the size of operating expenses, and the matrix of actions directed by the ministry to the state-affiliated institutions and authorities on addressing imbalances in revenue streams and collecting for the public account.

Similarly, the meeting stood before the economic difficulties resulting from the cessation of oil exports and the possible mechanisms for improving revenues to bridge such a deficit, the most important of which is the full activation of the state revenue institutions and sectors, the adoption of a rational spending policy, and putting strict controls in place that ensure the supply of central and joint state resources to its specific accounts and not allowing any excesses in this aspect.

In the context of its meeting, the committee lauded the agreement ratified by the government to establish a joint telecommunications company between the Public Telecommunications Corporation and the Emirati company "NX" to provide mobile and Internet communications services, asserting that it represents an important step to liberate the communications sector from the domination of the Houthi militias, adds a strategic economic resource for the benefit of the public treasury, and creates a safe and reliable modern communication environment in various sectors.

At the end of its meeting, the committee touched on a range of topics and issues related to the work of the institutions and revenue sectors, the difficulties they face in collecting resources and debts incurred by certain state institutions, as well as the mechanisms to ease these difficulties, and took the appropriate decisions in this regard.